For this assignment, I wanted to understand how much parking space there was in Glacier National Park. Visits to National Parks across the country have risen drastically in the past 5 years, and GNP is no exception. In 2017 alone, the park had more than 3.3 million visitors (largely during its short open season from the end of June until September). That is more than 3 times the population of all of Montana. With Going-to-the-Sun Road as the one main (narrow) corridor, and with parking spots filling up by 7am each day it feels particularly important to understand the the parking resources as compared to road space and number of visitors and for visitors themselves to understand the odds they are up against. The following is a map that shows the NPS identified points of interest (although, as a local it definitely is not the most accurate list), along with the parking spaces. It’s incredibly difficult to see the parking lots - because there are so few official parking lots, and even they are incredibly small compared to the size or the park or the length of the road, and parking spots exist in far fewer numbers than the points of interest and visiting vehicles. Sometimes there are even traffic jams caused by an inability to find a parking spot. From lived experience, this often means that the huge influx of visitors create their own informal parking spots, ruining vegetation, or idle/drive around (sometimes for hours), increasing air pollution in parking lot areas.
The summer season of 2020 was particularly bad for traffic due to COVID impacts. The Blackfoot Nation closed the St Mary Entrance to Going-to-the-Sun Road in order to protect their nation from COVID-19 brought by tourists. The road closed at Logan Pass, meaning that all traffic had to turn away the way it came and a through-traveled area became the main destination. Logan Pass does not have the infrastructural or spatial resources to manage such high vehicle traffic.
Many national parks and their surrounding communities (often already vulnerable rural towns with many Native Americans who remain deeply connected to their sacred lands) are facing similar traffic and parking problems. Visitors should come prepared with an understanding of routes, parking availability, and have a solid backup plan if parking is not available. If you’ve already visited a park several times, also consider opting out of such highly trafficked public lands and their surrounding communities. Informed visits (or foregone visits) can have a positive impact on a national park’s wildlife, air, human communities, and infrastructure.